How teen Sachin bowled Anjali

November 6, 2014

Sachin Anjali TendulkarMumbai, Nov 5: It was at an airport where medical student Anjali Mehta saw the wonder boy of Indian cricket and was floored by the “cute looks” of Sachin Tendulkar.

She ran after him screaming “Sachin, Sachin”, much to the embarrassment of the 17-year-old Tendulkar. She even forgot about her mother whom she had gone to pick with a friend.

This story of love-at-first-sight was revealed by Anjali Tendulkar, wife of one of the greatest batsmen in world cricket.

She was speaking at the launch of his autobiography “Playing It My Way”. The first copy of the book was presented to Sachin’s mother Rajni Tendulkar by the cricketer himself.

“I had gone to pick my mother and then I saw him and my friend told me he is the wonder boy of Indian cricket. I told my friend, ‘Oh, he is so cute’. Then I ran after him and I forgot about my mother,” Anjali said.“Sachin was so embarrassed and did not even look at me.”

Anjali said she managed to get the number of Tendulkar after that, called him and was lucky that he picked her call.

“I called him and said I am Anjali and I saw you at the airport. He said he remembered me. When asked what colour I was wearing, he remembered that it was an orange colour T-shirt.”

Anjali, now a mother of two, said she was destined to meet him, since on two previous occasions she could have met Tendulkar but could not do so as she was not interested in cricket.

“He was there with Star Cricket Club and I was also there in England. My dad called me when the Indian team was playing. He wanted me to meet the boy who had scored a century but I said I don’t want to meet this boy, I am not interested in cricket. Maybe if I had met, I would have chased him when he was 15,” she said as the gathering listened to the love story with attention and amusement.

Anjali also revealed how Sachin was scared when she visited his house for the first time, posing as a journalist.

“He was a bit hesitant, he said ‘how can a girl come to my house’.”

Tendulkar said his sister-in-law guessed that something was fishy in the whole episode. “She asked me whether she was really a journalist or something else,” Tendulkar said. She had seen him giving Anjali chocolates.

Anjali also said it was difficult to be in touch with Tendulkar on tours as there was no e-mail, sms and the call rates were very expensive. And whenever she made calls, she would do so after 10pm, walking out of the campus, a stretch of which was always full of ‘goondas’ in the night, since the call rates were low only at that time.

“Writing letters was the best option in those days,” she said.

Anjali said it was she who informed Sachin’s parents that they wanted to get engaged since he was away in New Zealand. Tendulkar said telling his parents that he wanted to marry Anjali was tougher than facing the most fearsome fast bowlers.

“Indeed it was and that is how I had planned it. I was sitting in New Zealand happily and Anjali did it,” he said. Anjali said it was tough to be the wife of a cricket star. “People think it is very glamorous, but it is tough. Whenever your husband gets out early, India loses, you feel personally that you have done something wrong. And travelling with kids was never easy,” she said.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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News Network
January 10,2020

Jan 10: Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s prized 'baggy green' cap raised more than A$1 million ($686,000) on Friday for bushfire relief efforts after the former leg-spinner donated it for auction.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and thousands made homeless in recent months as huge fires scorched through more than 25.5 million acres of land, an area the size of South Korea.

The baggy green is presented to Australian players when they make their Test debut and they receive just one for their entire career. The Aussie cricketer donated the cap to an online auction site on Monday. The auction closed at 10 a.m. on Friday (2300 GMT Thursday) with a final public bid of A$1,007,500.

"Unbelievable … so generous from everyone. Totally blown away," Warne said on Twitter shortly before the auction closed.

The auction attracted global interest and the price eclipsed the A$425,000 achieved by the late Don Bradman's baggy green when it was sold in 2003.

"We have been overwhelmed and it is a fantastic result," Marc Cheah, head of marketing for auctioneers Pickles, said.

"Other baggy greens have been auctioned and Don Bradman’s got $425,000 about 15 years ago, but the Don is the Don. He’s the greatest cricketer that ever lived," Cheah said in relation to the widely held recognition Bradman was the best batsman the game has produced.

"But Shane is also right up there and that drove a lot of traffic and momentum, while the cause is also very worthwhile."

Warne, 50, is one of many local and international athletes to support the fundraising for bushfire victims with several cricketers promising to donate a sum based on the number of sixes they hit in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 competition.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

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